1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to a highly secure data delivery system and method for distribution of title data, on demand, and a method and system for the encryption, storage, preview, selection, retrieval, watermarking, decryption and delivery to remote locations, of digital title data stored at a central storage facility, and in particular, music recordings, movies, software, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
The manufacturing and distribution of movies, music and software for home enjoyment is quickly becoming one of the larger industries in the world. For example, with the Internet (the “net”), there are now companies that allow a user to order over the net and have shipped any of music, video or software titles that the business-to-consumer retailer has in stock. A user can simply go to a website, provide the necessary credit card information and shipping information, and the retailer will ship the requested titles to the user's home. However, shipment that is not at an increased fee can take on average two to three days, and even longer if to a remote location. In addition, these retailers do not always have every title that a user wishes to order, in stock. Therefore, shipment can take longer. Alternatively, the customer will have to pay additional shipping costs to get the title faster.
There are other retailers that also strive to offer customized titles to a customer. For example, there are retailers that offer customized CDs to a customer through a web site, wherein a customer can access the company's website and request a customized CD with each title or track that the user selects. Nevertheless, the user must still wait on average two to three days for a CD to be shipped to the user. In addition, there may be a delay in manufacturing the CD prior to shipment, which will push out the shipment time to the user. Further, the customer who wants the CD quicker will have to pay additional shipping costs.
There also exists the more traditional industry of rental and sale of movies, CDs, software and the like at local retail establishments such as, for example, a movie on videotape at a local video retailer. Today, the most popular medium for distributing such movies may still be VHS videotapes, however digital video disks (DVDs) are quickly becoming very popular. Of course, renting or purchasing through a local retailer requires at least one trip to the local retailer. In addition, there is the possibility that the desired titled will not be in stock.
Yet another medium for distributing, for example, movies to a home is through cable or satellite television networks, which currently provide pay-per-view capabilities and some also offer video-on-demand services. Nevertheless, direct video distribution to the home is limited, for example, by the availability of select and limited titles at the pre-defined times. Pay-per-view services typically only offer a limited number of titles at the pre-defined times. Video on-demand is typically limited by the cable television provider's head end facilities, its infrastructure and capacity to store a number of titles. To rent or buy a movie today can still be a frustrating experience for a customer. For pay-per-view, the customer must rent the movie at the select times its local cable company offers the movie. In addition, video-on-demand is not yet available to a majority of the population. Therefore, for the consumer, the experience of renting or buying a movie often still requires that the customer visit a local video retail outlet. However, making a trip to the local retail store does not guarantee that the consumer will even find the title that they desire, and the consumer may either end up renting or buying an alternative title or not renting or buying anything at all. This is due, for example, to the limited space for stocking many titles within the confines of the retail store. These stores can only stock a limited supply of titles for rental or purchase. In addition, the titles tend to be the most popular titles, and therefore the consumer may not be able to rent or purchase a particularly desired title if it is not a popular title.